With the coming of the first Fuji Super Tuesday out at t-town, I feel like we're finally getting into the real heart of the season. I offered a ride to former team-mate Jen, so I left the house around noon to pick her up in brooklyn. This was the first real hot day of the summer, being above 80F, and one thing i noticed immediately upon leaving the house was that my air conditioning didn't seem to work anymore. That made for a very painful and sweaty drive, stuck in stop and go traffic on the LIE going around an accident and some construction, but it offered enough time for Jen to bring her bike to ride brooklyn to have her old track cog removed. I picked her up around atlantic terminal, drove to her place so she could pack, and headed out. The drive out was pretty uneventful, stopping around the NJ/PA border to get some iced coffee and snacks. We arrived in T-town around 4:30, I would say, which gave us time to relax and try to cool down temperature-wise and warm up muscle-wise.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801775
There was a real big pro/am field, but only 12 or so riders in the stagiares, including tyler nothstein.
The first race was a 2km - or 6 lap - scratch. I made it a point to not attack too early and just sit in and watch tyler. Finally, I saw my moment and attacked hard in turn 4 just before coming through to the bell lap. I held it until the back stretch, where I was passed by Tyler and then one other rider, at which point I put in another hard dig, and watched him fade back. In the end I was able to cross in second, but my legs felt shot. The second dig came with an immediate feeling of hitting the wall. My legs just went numb. I knew this was a combination of overheating and not eating enough, which was also due to a lack of appetite from the heat.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801760
I spent the time between the scratch and the next race trying to recover, by spinning around slow, drinking water, eating gels, and laying on the ground mostly lifeless.
The next race was a 20 lap points race with 4 sprints. I was able to gather the strength to get second in the first sprint, I think behind tyler. I then really started to feel like I had nothing left. I spent the time trying to maintain contact with a group of 4 riders, but couldn't get it together to get any points in the next two sprints. This theme basically carried through to the end of the race, but my notes here say that i might have gotten fourth in the final sprint. Whatever happened, it was enough to get me 4th.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801755
Between this race and the next, I was able to gather the strength to get over the flyover and pick up a gatorade and a cup of ice from the concession stand. I rubbed the ice on my head, ate ice, put ice down my skinsuit. Finally, I started feeling human again.
The final race was a super sprint elimination. The original plan was to go down to ten riders, then a five lap scratch, if I remember correct-like. Since there were only 12 riders, they changed it to go down to five riders, then a three lap scratch. Since I felt a little bit like lazarus coming back from the dead, I basically just sat near the middle to back playing the devil, making sure there was always at least one more set of wheels behind me. This strategy was enough to keep me in, though I do seem to remember thinking we were down to five riders when we were only at 6. The scratch part of the race was mostly slow and tactical, staying uptrack for the majority, just marking the other riders. I was able to jump at Tyler's attack, and held it for third place.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801742
This concluded the Stagiare omnium. I spent some time taking photos of Jen for her instagram addiction, though I got bit horribly by who knows what while laying in the grass on the back stretch trying to get some fancy photo work going. After that, I tried to get a beer from the concession stand, but they closed up. I didn't do the feature race, as I was still decently dead, so I just started to pack up. I head over the PA system that I got second in the omnium, which was awesome, so I picked up my money and then took a shower. Fortunately, the other guy in the locker room let me know there was only cold water before I got a horrible shock, but I still showered anyhow. Jen was feeling hungry, so we ate at Applebees, gassed up at Wawa, and headed off into the night. Besides construction in PA and some crazy driver in staten island who was splitting lanes and speeding up and slowing down, it was decently uneventful. I toyed with the idea of hitting the velvet lounge when I got home, but I had work in the morning and k-town races in the evening, so I just went to bed.
Results here:
http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/2013-Fuji-Bicycles-Pro.pdf
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